Photographer James Clifford Kent has been chronicling life in Cuba for the past two decades. Since 2022, he has documented an island struggling in the midst of a deep economic crisis. His ongoing longform project ¡No hay más na’! (there’s nothing left) captures ordinary people living on the margins of society.
The island’s harshest economic conditions since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s have induced desperation and the exodus of many Cubans. Widespread shortages, frequent power outages and soaring inflation have fuelled growing hopelessness. Numbers abandoning the island for the United States have rocketed in recent years, with a mass migration of over 400,000 people arriving at the US border since 2022.
¡No hay más na’! shines a light on a Cuba hidden from the tourist gaze. Far removed from romantic portrayals of a tropical Caribbean island bathed in revolutionary chic, Kent’s photographs depict marginalised Cubans struggling to put food on the table and keep their heads above water.
Discover more work from this project on Instagram here.
Media
Born fighting: from the streets of Cuba to the boxing ring (The Times, April 2024)
Photographers flock to a black and white world (The Times, December 2023)
A striking portrait of Cuba’s fading revolution (Huck, October 2023)
Havana in the Shadows (Leica Camera Blog, August 2023)
Record numbers of people are leaving Cuba amid most severe economic crisis since the 1990s hits – a photo essay (The Independent, March 2023)
Cuba: why record numbers of people are leaving as the most severe economic crisis since the 1990s hits – a photo essay (The Conversation, February 2023)
Cuba sufre el mayor éxodo ante su peor crisis desde el colapso de la URSS (The Conversation – Spain, February 2023)
Work from this project has also featured in Photo Vogue.
Awards
Cary, Axiuli and Haytoo, Havana, Cuba, 2023 (reFocus Black and White Contest [Gold, People]
Exhibitions
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2023
Public talks
The Cuban Revolution, The Revolutionary Caribbean, Eccles Centre, British Library, 28 October 2023
”¡No hay más na’!”: Visual narratives of survival in crisis-hit Cuba, Society for Caribbean Studies Society for Caribbean Studies annual conference conference, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, De Montfort University, 5-7 July 2023
With thanks to Leica UK for their support with this project.
This series documents a day-in-the-life of the Queen Mary Maternity Unit at West Middlesex University Hospital, part of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where photographer James Clifford Kent’s daughter was born in 2020. It captures the experiences of expectant parents cared for by the team at the unit – including midwives, nurses and doctors – and moments that typically go unnoticed in portrayals of maternity care.
Media
Between two worlds, Royal Photographic Society Journal, July-September 2024
Documenting compassion and teamwork in maternity care, Perspectives, The Lancet, Vol. 402, Nov 25, 2023, p. 1958-1969.
When Castro arrived on the world stage in the 1950s, he quickly utilised the power of photography to seduce the masses
Read the full photo essay published in The Independent here
Following a period of momentous change for Cuba, signified by the end of the Castro era, this exhibition explored contemporary documentary photography and its role in representing the country and its people both inside and outside the island. Showcasing work by world-renowned photographers such as Raúl Cañibano and Michael Christopher Brown, the exhibition included previously unseen photographs that offered a snapshot of the changing face of Cuba.
The exhibition featured work by the following photographers: Raúl Cañibano, Arien Chang Castán, Michael Christopher Brown, Leandro Feal, Felko, James Clifford Kent, Lisette Poole, Leysis Quesada Vera, Alfredo Sarabia Jr. and Lissette Solórzano
Project photographs &
recorded interview
James Clifford Kent
Research for this exhibition was made possible by funding from the Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies project (MEITS) based at the University of Cambridge and the AHRC’s flagship Open World Research Initiative (OWRI)
Read more about the project here.
This project explores the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.
The series features portraits of new and expectant parents from London, accompanied by their testimonies of love, loss and survival in the face of adversity.
The project began after photographer James Clifford Kent became a parent for the first time in September 2020, when he shared an image of his wife together with their newborn baby daughter and midwife. He soon received messages from all over the world from people wanting to tell their stories. He realised this represented a unique opportunity to capture how pandemic restrictions were impacting this life changing experience for millions.
His project reveals the challenges of bringing a baby into the world during the pandemic.
Work from the project has been published widely in the media and was awarded one of The Lancet’s annual photography prizes. Kent is currently turning the series into a book and will showcase work from the project in collaboration with the Babylab at the University of Cambridge in 2022.
Media
Pregnancy and birth during the pandemic (Royal Photographic Society Journal Extra, January 2022)
Love, loss and survival: Becoming a parent during the pandemic (The Independent, December 2021)
Highlights 2021: Line of Sight (The Lancet, December 2021)
‘I take each day as it comes’: Pregnancy and birth in the pandemic (The Independent, August 2021)
Generation COVID: Pregnancy, birth and early postnatal life in the pandemic (The Conversation, July 2021)
Pregnant Pause (Amateur Photographer, June 2021)
Support for the project
“During the COVID19 pandemic I have been personally and professionally aware of the negative impact it is having on women, partners and families – and midwives and other birth workers. Restricted access to hospitals for appointments and care has caused distress, fear, and in some cases deep trauma. As an experienced midwife I am relieved and delighted to see this project unfold using photography to portray a story that needs telling, to help all those who feel their voice is unheard or absent. Imagery, especially photography, evokes emotion like no other medium and childbirth is an emotionally charged time. The project will document this period in time and potentially help to heal those affected – in addition to raising awareness to promote positive change.”
– Dr Sheena Byrom OBE, consultant midwife
Memories of a Lost Shark is a series of black-and-white photographs and texts. The correspondence between these invites the spectator to enter a conversation with both photographer and writer in an act of imaginative solidarity with the actors taking centre stage in each of these images – an engagement that allows still photographs to become as fluid as Cuban history.
Photographs by James Clifford Kent
Words by Edmundo Desnoes
Read the Royal Photographic Society: Contemporary Photography Journal feature on the exhibition here
Against all odds: From streets to the ring
A portrait of Cuban boxing’s next generation – in Cienfuegos, Cuba, former champion José Alamo’s community boxing gym takes youngsters off the street and puts them into the ring, some making it all the way to the top
Despite ongoing challenges during Cuba's worst economic crisis in decades – including widespread shortages, power outages and the exodus of many Cubans – the island's renowned boxing programme and community projects provide opportunities for young athletes to hone their skills from an early age.